... to spread the cement of brotherly love and affection, that cement
which unites us into one sacred band or society of brothers, among whom no
contention should ever exist, but that noble emulation of who can best
work or best agree ...

Masonic quotes by Brothers

The
Character and Design of the Masonic Institution

THE FREEMASONS' MONTHLY MAGAZINE , NOVEMBER 1841

"To
enlarge the sphere of SOCIAL HAPPINESS, is worthy of the design
of a MASONIC INSTITUTIONS; and it is most fervently to be wished,
that the conduct of every member of the Fraternity, as well as
those PUBLICATIONS that discover the PRINCIPLES which actuate
them, may tend to convince mankind, that the brand object of
MASONRY, is to promote the happiness of the human race." Letter
of Gen. Washington to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts,
1792.

THE character and design of the Masonic Institution
have seldom been more distinctly and accurately set forth, than
in the above concise paragraph from the pen of him who
was, and will continue through all coming time to be, the "first
in the hearts of his countrymen." Few men have understood
the nature and tendencies of Freemasonry better; and fewer
still have loved it with a more enduring constancy.
Washington associated himself with it, while yet a youth; and
withdrew only when summoned to take his seat in the Grand Lodge
whose convocation is eternal.

He has truly and pertinently
told us, that the tendency of all "PUBLICATIONS that discover the
PRINCIPLES" of our Fraternity, should be, to "convince mankind
that the grand object of Masonry, is to promote the happiness of
the human race." And here we take our stand, - pledging our
best energies, - all our resources and experience, - not merely
to the development and support of the true principles of
the Order, - not merely to convince the uninitiated of what
Masonry is, - but to the full and entire attainment of the "grand
object" it has in view.

We expect opposition. The Masonic
Institution in all ages and countries has had to encounter the
scoffs and revilings of the base, the uninformed, the prejudiced.
Christianity was not without its Judas.

The whole heathen
world was thrown into excitement by the promulgation of the
sublime principles of our religion. Could Freemasonry - an
extensive and powerful institution, exercising a discriminating
exclusiveness, and located in the midst of a free-thinking
people, ever jealous of encroachment upon their social and
political rights, - ask for an exemption that was refused to
Christianity?

Popular excitements are incident to every form
of government; but in Democracies they are of most frequent
occurrence. They may not perhaps properly be said to form one of
the elements of the republican system; yet it is undoubtedly true
that they occur under that system, more as the consequences of
its peculiarities, than as the results of accidental causes.
In republican governments, the road to political power is not,
as under the monarchial system, obstructed by the artificial
dis- tinctions of birth or property. In this respect the plebeian
may claim equality with the patrician.

We daily witness
the practical operation of this principle in our own government.
We see that it is productive of political contentions and
frequent popular excitements. But we do not complain of this;
for, while kept within proper limits and under wholesome
restrictions, these excitements form the surest safeguards of the
liberties of the people. They are the heavings of the ocean, by
which its purity is preserved. It is from the abuse of them that
evil arises. They are dangerous only when diverted from their
natural influences. In the hands of reckless and ambitious men,
they become instruments of persecution, and subservient to
unworthy purposes. But such men would subvert the holy intentions
of the Christian religion itself, and be content to register
themselves on the universal record of infamous deeds, rather than
remain in the obscurity where, by nature, education and habits,
they rightfully belong.

It was this class, by whom the late
excitement against the Masonic Institution, was fanned into a
flame, which spread far and wide, indiscriminately threatening
the innocent and the guilty with a common destruction. The
political state of the country favored their designs, and they
succeeded in turning what ought never to have been more than a
temporary local excitement to their own account, by directing it
against the whole Masonic family. Proscription became the
ruling principle; and all Masons, without distinction, were held
up as accessories to crime, and their characters branded with
the vilest epithets. It was immaterial how exemplary had been
their lives, or how exalted their patrotism - their condemnation
was pronounced, if they would not, like the perturbed spirits
that surrounded them, discover iniquity where there was none,
and evil design in an Institution whose only object, in the
language of Washington, is "to promote the happiness of the
human race."

There was another class of the community who
joined the crusade against our Order, and contributed materially
to its support and virulence.

Masonry does
not assume to itself the name or the pretensions of a religious association; nor
does it, while it entertains a proper and becoming respect for all, manifest a
preference for any particular religious creed. The only religious qualification
that it demands or inculcates, is a belief in the existence and attributes of
God. It regards mankind as bound to each other by natural and indissoluble ties,
independently of the artificial distinctions of interest or religion.

This spirit of toleration is adverse
to the propagation of sectarianism. Hence it is that among
ultra-religionists, Masonry has ever found heart less and
un-compromising enemies. Her history is full of instances.
Religious bigotry persecuted her in Holland; expelled her from
the Ecclesiastical States of Italy; hunted her disciples like
wild beasts through Germany; and in Switzerland required them to
swear, in the presence of the Almighty, to trample upon those
engagements which, before the same Great Being, they had sworn to
respect and revere! It brought them to the Auto de Fe in Spain,
and to the Rack in Portugal: It excluded them from the Church in
Scotland, and shut up the Lodges in England.

In this
country, however, though the inclination be as strong as in the
Papal States of Europe, the liberal spirit of our laws presents
an impassable barrier to any permanent union between religious
fanaticism and political intolerance. Instances, nevertheless,
frequently occur, where the former may artfully and insidiously
give such a direction to the misguided energies of the latter, as
to produce results which could not have been effected by any
independent action of its own. Religionists may assail and
criminate each other, without producing any considerable
sensation in the public mind. But when any particular sect
manifests a disposition to persecute for difference of opinion,
it becomes offensive to the whole community, and is at once
driven from its purpose by considerations of personal safety. A
purely religious crusade against Masonry, would have produced a
re-action disadvantageous to the purposes of the former. And
such would have been the result of the late persecution, had
ultra- religionists assumed its direction. They understood the
matter better, and were content to play a subordinate
part.

But thanks to Him who "rides upon the whirlwind and
directs the storm," our ancient and honorable Institution has
escaped alike the malignant venom of political persecution and
religious intolerance. The black and portentous storm, which, for
a season, hung over it, threatening it with destruction and
ruin, has passed away. In the language of an eloquent brother,
"the beautiful and marvellous light is again shedding its
rich radiance over portions of the country, where, but a short
time since, 'thick darkness' had gathered like a funeral pall, -
the Master's mallet is now sounding in Halls that have long
been silent and unoccupied, - the good and influential men of
society are going back again to their deserted seats, and the
'WHITE BANNER' is floating upon the breeze, honored
and reverenced, as in the days of its palmier history." The
Rubicon has been passed in safety. The dark cloud has
been dispersed. And our Institution is seen standing like
some ancient oak, with its many roots rivetted to the soil, and
its broad limbs spread in bold outline against the sky. Long
will the sun-light of honor and renown linger amid its
venerable branches. And when at last the "brave old oak," lashed
by the storm and riven by the lightning, shall totter to its
fall, around its trunk will the ivy of popular affection, that
has so long clasped it, still cling, and mantle with greenness
and verdure its ruin and decay.

If any ask the utility of
Masonry, in this day of universal intelligence and wide spread
Christian benevolence and philanthropy - "when the art of
printing has rendered oral learning vain, when science has
descended from her pedestal to become the plaything of the child,
and the youth of to-day is wiser than the sages of old," - we ask
him to read the pages of this Magazine for one year from the
present time, and he will find his answer. If he decline to do
this, let him ask of the indigent Brother and the sorrowing
widow. Let him ask of the hundreds of innocent children in all
quarters of the world, "whom Masonic charity hath clothed, whom
Masonic virtue hath trained in the paths of respectability and
truth." There will he find his answer. Let him seek the
proscribed wanderer from distant lands, whose exile hath been
cheered by the hand of fraternal fellowship. Ask of the venturous
mariner, whose vessel, tossed on the foaming waves, the sport of
the tempest and the storm, has cast him helpless on some unknown
shore:- faint and exhausted, he finds a home where a home
was unlooked for; a means of communication where
language would fail-a help when no help seemed near.

But
enough. The present work has been commenced in compliance with
the wishes of a large number of Brethren in different sections of
the country, and in the full assurance that a Monthly Magazine of
high and purely Masonic character, will be useful to the
Brotherhood, and promotive of the best interests of the
Institution. It is designed to be a medium of
reciprocal communication between the wide spread branches of
the great Masonic family, - the means of bringing the Brethren
of our own and of foreign countries into a closer
communication; and, by making each more familiar with the
transactions of the other, - by creating a sympathy of sentiment
and interest, - encourage the hearts and strengthen the hands of
all.

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